Past Eternity
by LoliBat
Summary: ‘Once you’ve met someone, you don’t really forget them. It just takes a while for your memories to return.’ A series of one-shots on what happens after Chihiro’s departure. Dedicated to Hayao Miyasaki, my favorite film creator.
1. One thousand, four hundred and sixty two

Past Eternity

'Once you've met someone, you don't really forget them. It just takes a while for your memories to return.' A series of one-shots on what happens after Chihiro's departure. Dedicated to Hayao Miyasaki, my favorite film creator of all time.

* * *

**One thousand, four hundred and sixty-two**

* * *

_Will we meet again sometime? Sure we will. Promise? Promise. _

* * *

Spring, the season of renewal and life. The birds are chirping joyously, and the flowers are blooming, coloring the earth with their soft petals. In the middle of a forest, a rare patch of untamed wilderness surrounded by technology, is an old tunnel. Despite its appearance, the tunnel serves as a portal to a new world, one untouched by the greed of humans. Beyond that tunnel is the Spirit World, one that is and will continue to be separate from the Human World. Only one person in all of history has ever entered that world and came back with her memory intact.

That girl now stands in front of that magical entrance once more. She slips the backpack that she is carrying off her slender shoulders and lays it on the petal-covered ground. With long slender fingers, she unzips it and extracts a pen along with a piece of colorful square paper. With ease, she flips her long ponytail out of her way and begins to write on the white side of the paper.

_Dear Dragon,_

_ Spring has come again, and everywhere I go, the ground is covered with pretty pink cherry blossom petals. I have only a couple of months left until I graduate out of high school. Time flies by, doesn't it? I think I told you this already, but last month I got accepted into Keio University's science program; isn't this great? When I graduate from college, I'm going to help create new ways for humans and nature to coexist together peacefully. I guess my time in the Spirit World really opened my eyes to what humans do to the environment. Remember that river spirit that I helped on my first day of work? Now that I have the time to think about what happened, I'm sad that humanity is the reason that such a majestic and free spirit was chained. What if you were trapped instead? I could never wish this on anyone else, especially not you. Therefore, I'll try my best to redeem humanity and change their ways._

_Always waiting,_

_Chihiro_

After concluding her letter, she places her pen back inside her bag and begins to fold the piece of paper. Matching corner to corner, the girl folds the paper in half, opens it, folds it in half the other direction, then diagonally, pops it into a square, and continues folding until at last, a pretty origami crane rests on her pale palm. She takes the delicate paper creation and lays it on the head of the small stone statue that stands in front of the tunnel. With her task done, she grabs the shoulder strap of her backpack and turns around. Slowly, she walks out of the forest.

Ever since that fateful day as a child many years ago, Chihiro Ogino has been visiting the portal daily. Each and every day, she does the same thing; every time, the crane that she makes the previous day would be gone. And so, she continues to wait for him, day after day, week after week, year after year.

Cranes, she decides, are long since thought to carry messages to the spirits of departed loved once. Since they can cross over the border of the living and the dead, it makes sense that they can cross the border between humans and spirits.

A thousand cranes grant a wish. Every one thousand cranes that she makes, for him or for herself, she would close her eyes and wish. Each time she wishes, it is always the same wish. And each time, the hope in her heart would die out, and she would smile. Not the smile that she once had on her face, but one that is hollow, meaningless, and mocking. Still, she would come back the next day, and the day after that and continue her daily ritual.

Slowly, time passes by, a never-ending and flowing river. The petals on the ground disappears, and the cicadas return once more.

The wind rustles through the trees as the leaves dance in the air to welcome her once more. Today is her graduation day. From today on, she will no longer be able to make her daily trip to the tunnel. Chihiro stops at the entrance of the forest and looks up at the pale blue sky.

'Eight years. Eight years since the day I met him. I'm all grown up now. I'll miss this place.' She smiles sadly and begins her walk into the woods for the last time.

Midway through, she halts, shocked. There is another figure standing at the tunnel. The figure is dressed in white and dark emerald hair contrasts against the pure color.

'No, it can't be.' With numb hands, she drops her backpack and begins to sprint. Her heart hammers in her chest with painful hope, and her brain races a mile a minute.

'Haku…' Panting, she stops in front of the figure. The person turns around, and grass green eyes meet her own brown ones. He is no longer the child that he was eight years ago, just like she is not the timid little girl from before. The first thing she notices is that he has grown taller. Before, they were both equal in height; now he is a full head taller than her own height of 5' 4". His hair has also grown longer, kept back with a hair tie. For what seems like an eternity, she stares at him in wonder, and he calmly returns her gaze, a million unspoken emotions flickering through his eyes.

Finally, he breaks the silence.

"I'm back; I kept my promise." He smiles. It was the same kind smile that haunts her dreams; how she has longed for this moment to come. Chihiro blinks in wonder and pinches herself on the arm.

'This isn't a dream…' She could feel tears pooling in her eyes, blurring her vision. Her mouth curves into a smile all by its own, a true smile of pure joy. Without hesitation, she flings herself at him, burying her face in his shirt. She inhales his scent of nature and water, and begins to sob tears of happiness, murmuring his name.

Haku does nothing other than hold her tightly, comforting her by his mere presence. When Chihiro finally calms down, they head toward the entrance of the forest together. As they walk, Chihiro rapidly fires question after question in an effort to catch up. Still smiling, Haku patiently answers her questions one by one.

"Oh, by the way" Haku says "I got your cranes, every one thousand, four hundred and sixty-two of them."

* * *

The End


	2. Always with me

Mandy: I'm sorry that this is so short, but I decided that if it was longer, it wouldn't feel the same. ;-; I was originally going to write a sadder one-shot, but I just couldn't do it .! TT^TT

* * *

Somewhere, a voice calls, in the depths of my heart

May I always be dreaming, the dreams that move my heart

.

So many tears of sadness, uncountable through and through

I know on the other side of them I'll find you

.

Every time we fall down to the ground we look up to the blue sky above

We wake to its blueness, as for the first time

.

Though the road is long and lonely and the end far away, out of sight

I can with these two arms embrace the light

.

As I bid farewell my heart stops, in tenderness I feel

My silent empty body begins to listen to what is real

.

The wonder of living, the wonder of dying

The wind, town, and flowers, we all dance one unity

* * *

"It's been that long, huh." A pale boy lay beside me in a peaceful meadow of swaying yellow and white blossoms, timeless and everlasting. Our meadow, our sanctuary.

"Yeah." Looking back at my childhood, I smile. It's been millennia since I ventured into the Spirit World, scared and alone. I close my warm grey eyes and lose myself in the gently swaying wind, the calming sound of a river rushing by in the woods. Laying my own hand on top of his, I look into his piercing jade eyes. Each time, I marvel at the emotions that swirl within them, truly, they are windows to his soul.

"Remember? You were so scared when you first came here. You thought I was going to turn you into a pig." He teased, laughter lacing his words. I stuck my tongue out at him and swat his tickling hand away with practiced ease.

"You would be too if your parents just turned into pigs." I retorted, absentmindedly fingering the velvety petals of a flower nearby.

"Or that time when you nearly drowned in sludge." He pretended to dodge as I threw a petal at him.

"Says the one that almost died of paper cuts." He rolled his eyes, but a smile tugged on his lips.

I close my eyes once more as the warming rays of the sun illuminate the meadow, adding to its ethereal appearance. We both bask in the presence of each other, as immortal and timeless as our meadow. The wind gently tugs at our clothes and hair while the small laughing flowers tickle and tease. This is how it should be, and this is how it is. I've found you again, and I'm never letting you go. We'll be together. Always.

* * *

Somewhere a voice calls in the depths of my heart

keep dreaming your dreams, don't ever let them part

.

Why speak of all your sadness or of life's painful woes

Instead let the same lips sing a gentle song for you

.

The whispering voice, we never want to forget,

in each passing memory always there to guide you

.

When a mirror has been broken, shattered pieces scattered on the ground

Glimpses of new life, reflected all around

.

Window of beginning, stillness, new light of the dawn

Let my silent, empty body be filled and reborn

.

No need to search outside, or sail across the sea

'Cause here shining inside me, it's right here inside me

.

I've found brightness, it's always with me

~Itsudemo Nandemo (Always with me) by Yumi Kimura


End file.
